Kien, Johannes (b. ca. 1670)

Johannes Kien was a preacher of the Mennonite congregation of Middelburg, Dutch province of Zeeland and author of Den Honigraet der Godgeleerdheid (Middelburg, 1704) and other theological treatises. He left the Mennonite Church in 1710 and joined the Reformed. His reason for this step was "that the Reformed Church knows only one way to salvation, i.e., faith in Jesus Christ, and the Mennonites three ways; i.e., nature, the law of Moses, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ." After his transfer to the Reformed Church, Kien tried to be appointed pastor of the Reformed church at Essequebo in the Dutch West Indies, but he seems not to have obtained this office since in 1725 he was still living in the province of Zeeland. For his leaving the Mennonites and his theological views Kien was attacked by his former Mennonite colleague Gerardus de Wind in Johannes Kiens redenen des geloofs onderzocht (Vlissingen, 1711). Johannes Kien was born at Middelburg ca. 1670.